Gravity Commons Podcast

The Enneagram has become quite popular recently in Christian circles. Some people think it’s the best thing ever, and others have expressed concerns about its origins and the supposed dangers of using it. In this episode, we talk about how the Enneagram has been helpful for us in our own spiritual formation. We’ve found the […] The post How the Enneagram Can Catalyze Spiritual Formation appeared f...

For Christian leaders, the gospel is kind of a big deal. But most of us have it wrong. Matthew Bates helps us see what the gospel is, and why it matters. The post Matthew Bates on How We Get the Gospel Wrong appeared first on Gravity Leadership. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

One of our foundational axioms is that God is Always Present and At Work. If you believe this and act as if it’s true, you have a sacramental worldview, whether you’d call it that or not. Pastor and author Glenn Packiam joins us on the podcast today to talk about why this kind of sacramental […] The post Why a Sacramental Worldview Matters with Glenn Packiam appeared first on Gravity Leadership. A...

Is nonviolence an integral part of following Jesus? Or can Christians keep violence in their “back pocket” as a last resort? Ron Sider has a very compelling argument about why Christians need to leave violence behind and learn to practice active nonviolence. (And he has some great answers to all the normal objections to nonviolence.) […] The post Stoking an Imagination For Nonviolence with Ron Sid...

As a woman of color, Kathy Khang learned to find her voice and speak up, even in the midst of difficult circumstances and toxic leadership. Kathy Khang is a writer, speaker, and yoga teacher. She spent more than 20 years in parachurch ministry working with college students and training organizational and church leaders. Before that she was […] The post Finding Your Voice, Daring to Speak with Kath...

Discipleship should be simple, but often we manage to over-complicate it. Derek Vreeland helps us keep discipleship simple, practical, and transformative. The post Keeping Discipleship Simple with Derek Vreeland appeared first on Gravity Leadership. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this BONUS episode, we interview Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh, who have written an “uncommentary” on the book of Romans, and live in community on a sustainable farm in Canada. A fun conversation about how our social locations affect how we read Scripture. Links from this episode: Pick up their book: Romans Disarmed: Resisting […] The post Resisting Empire with Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh...

We often want our ministries to move fast and grow quickly, but José Humphreys would rather see a leaders learn how to show up, be present, and stay put. The post José Humphreys on Leading By Showing Up and Staying Put appeared first on Gravity Leadership. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Absolutely every leader experiences anxiety. It's not a question of how to get rid of leadership anxiety, but recognizing and managing leadership anxiety. The post Managing Leadership Anxiety with Steve Cuss appeared first on Gravity Leadership. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We don't often think about spiritual formation in terms of curiosity and memory, but we should, according to Casey Tygrett. This was a fun podcast episode! The post Curiosity and Memory in Spiritual Formation with Casey Tygrett appeared first on Gravity Leadership. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In today's highly charged social and political environment, we often don't know how to talk well with other people-especially with people whose backgrounds differ from our own. In this episode we talk with writer, editor, and community developer Chris Smith about: why conversation has become such a challenge in the 21st century, why conversation is […] The post How to Have Hard Conversatio...

We talk with pastor and author Chris Nye about our addiction to accumulation, how it harms our souls, and how to pursue true spiritual abundance instead. The post Questioning our Addiction to Accumulation with Chris Nye appeared first on Gravity Leadership. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, we talk with Dan and Amanda Sadlier about the unique challenges and opportunities of planting a church and doing ministry in New York City (with 6 kids!). Dan and Amanda share some their story, what they’ve learned and experienced, and what it’s like to live in a church planting culture. The Sadliers […] The post Church Planting in New York City with Dan and Amanda Sadlier appeare...

We talk about our new Membership Community on Patreon in this episode! (We also tell a few dad jokes.) Lots of our podcast listeners and coaching clients have been asking us about ways to stay connected to the Gravity Leadership Community and participate more deeply in the ongoing learning we’re all engaged in as we […] The post A New Way to Connect and Partner with Gravity Leadership appeared fir...

Have you ever wondered how “mindfulness” intersects with historic Christian faith and living? Many people shun the practices of mindfulness for fear of being led astray from their faith. Turns out, though, that this fear is completely unfounded. Mindfulness merges quite well with the history of Christian faith and spiritual formation. This week we chat […] The post Mindfulness and Christian Faith...

So far in our power series, we’ve focused on power abuse in institutional or church settings, but some of the most damaging power abuse show up in our most intimate relationships, and more often than you might imagine. In this episode we interview Jaclyn Houston-Kolnik, who is a community psychologist with over eight years of experience […] The post Power Abuse in Intimate Relationships w Jaclyn H...

Going on a short-term mission trip used to be an unquestioned “good thing to do” with your summer vacation, but we are now realizing that some kinds of short-term mission trips do more harm than good. So do short-term mission trips make sense any more? Is there a different theological framework we can use to […] The post Rethinking Short-term Mission Trips with Rob Haynes appeared first on Gravity...

Matthew Bates joins Matt and Ben in this episode to talk about what it means that we’re saved by allegiance alone. What we often think of as “the gospel” isn’t really the gospel, it’s just a reconfiguration of salvation-related facts (“justification by faith,” for example). What is the actual gospel? Bates suggests it’s 1) Jesus’ […] The post Salvation By Allegiance Alone with Matthew Bates appear...

Is it true that you are either confident or humble, that the two are opposite of each other? Or is it possible to be both confident AND humble? In this episode Matt talks with Dan Kent, author, editor, speaker whose new book Confident Humility: Becoming Your Full Self Without Becoming Full of Yourself was just released. Dan was […] The post Can Confidence and Humility Go Together? (With Dan Kent)...

Why is changing a culture so &!%*# hard? It’s one of the most important elements of transformational leadership, but it so rarely happens! In this episode, we use our own experiences as pastors and coaches to discuss 3 reasons why changing a culture is so difficult, and what we can do to give ourselves the best […] The post Why Culture Change is So Dang Difficult appeared first on Gravity Lead...

We continue our series on Power in the Church by interviewing pastor and author Dan White Jr about what it looks like practically to really love our enemies. Imagine that, in today’s relational and political climate! Dan co-planted Axiom Church in Syracuse, New York with a commitment to tight-knit community, locally-rooted presence, and life-forming discipleship. He recently wrote […] The post How...

We continue our Power in the Church series with an interview with a white police officer who is intentionally working for racial justice. Keirsh Cochran actually became a police officer to work for racial justice after he saw the unrest in Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown and realized that not everyone sees cops as […] The post How a White Police Officer is Working For Racial Justice appe...

How important is it to talk about power dynamics when talking about the gospel and discipleship? Are power dynamics vital to this conversation or are they more peripheral? We continue our series on Power in the Church hosting a discussion with with Glenn Packiam and Seth Richardson, who both recently wrote articles on power dynamics, from different […] The post Power Dynamics and the Gospel with G...

What does it look like for leaders to embody power in the same way Jesus does? We continue our series on Power in the Church by talking with Rich Villodas, pastor of New Life Fellowship in Queens. We talk with Rich about what it looks like to embody cruciform power in the way of Jesus, and […] The post Rich Villodas on Cruciform Power and the Contemplative Life appeared first on Gravity Leadership...

Why do we seem to be attracted to narcissistic leaders? Even with all the writing lately about how harmful narcissistic leaders are to organizations, we don’t seem to be able to shake their allure. More disturbingly, would we know how to detect narcissism within ourselves? We continue our series on Power in the Church by […] The post Chuck DeGroat on Why We Love Narcissistic Leaders appeared first...